The present invention relates to compositions for cleaning hard surfaces, and in particular to compositions suitable for cleaning glass and glossy or shiny surfaces.
A particularly important feature of such compositions is that the surface when cleaned must not have any streaks or smears and, although numerous-compositions for cleaning glass and like materials have been proposed, providing compositions which clean effectively whilst avoiding streaking or smearing has been a particular technical challenge.
A further advantage of cleaning compositions for glass and shiny or glossy surfaces is the ability to reduce or to avoid the build up of static charge. It will be appreciated that the presence of static charge on the surface causes the rapid re-deposition of dust and like particles by attraction o such particles onto the surface from the air. The benefits achieved by cleaning of the surface are thus rapidly diminished.
Up until now anionic surfactants have not been added in the same composition as cationic surfactants because the anionic surfactants interfere with the activity of cationic surfactants in so far as anti-static and anti-microbial properties are concerned. Surprisingly it has now been found that by using a quaternary ammonium compound as the cationic surfactant, compositions containing a cationic and anionic surfactant can be made so that the benefit of both the anionic surfactant (i.e. high detergency and low smearing) and the benefit of the cationic surfactants (i.e. good anti-microbial and good anti-static properties) can be obtained.
Accordingly, it is an aim of the present invention to provide a cleaning composition, in particular for glass and glossy or shiny surfaces, which has good cleaning properties, does not cause smears or streaks, and also has good anti-microbial activity as well as having good anti-static properties, that is, the ability to reduce or prevent the build up of static charge on the surface.
According to the present invention, there is provided an aqueous cleaning composition, preferably a hard surface cleaning composition, comprising:
i) 0.01%-5% of one or more ethoxylated quaternary ammonium compounds (hereinafter component i);
ii) 1%-10% of at least one glycol ether and/or C1-22 alcohols (hereinafter component ii); and
iii) 0.005% to 2% of an anionic surfactant (hereinafter component iii);
all percentages being by weight.
Component i) preferably comprises one or more compounds of the formula I 
in which
Axe2x88x92 is an anion preferably Clxe2x88x92 or SO4xe2x88x92;
R is an C10-25 alkyl or C10-25 alkenyl radical preferably C12-22 alkyl or C12-22 alkenyl;
each of R1 and R2 independently is selected from hydrogen and C1-6 alkyl;
n is preferably a number from 2 to 20, especially 3-6 ; and
m is 0 to 2, preferably 0.
More preferred quaternary ammonium compounds are C12-16 alkyl ethoxylated ammonium compounds. Suitable commercially available ethoxylated ammonium compounds include polyethylene glycol products e.g. cocoalkyl pentaethoxymethylammonium methosulphate (PEG-5 cocomonium methosulphatexe2x80x94derived from coconut fatty acid).
For clarity in formula I the ethylene oxide recurring unit or the propylene oxide recurring unit may be directly attached to the N atom.
In preferred formulations, component i) is preferably present in a total amount of from 0.1% to 2% and more preferably from 0.1% to 0.5%.
Component ii) is preferably one or more compounds of the formula II:
R3xe2x80x94Oxe2x80x94CH2xe2x80x94CH(OH)xe2x80x94R4xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(II)
in which
R3 is a C2-6 alkyl or C2-6 alkenyl; and
R4 is a C1-6 alkyl radical preferably C1-4 alkyl.
Particularly preferred glycol ethers are butoxypropanol and methoxyisopropanol. Ethylene glycol monobutyl ether is also efficacious, but is less preferred for environmental reasons.
Component ii) is preferably present in a total amount of from 2% to 8%, more preferably from 3%-6%, and especially from 3.5% to 5.5%.
Preferably component iii) is selected from sarcosinates, more preferably, sodium lauroyl sarcosinates. Preferably component iii) is present in a total amount of 0.01-1%, more preferably, 0.02-0.5%.